I always love getting books in the post! Today Penguin have
sent me “A New Darkness” and “The Dark Army” by Joseph Delaney and also “The Creeping Shadow” by Jonathan Stroud. Have any of you read the Spooks or Lockwood & Co series? I’m so excited to read these! I shall be saving them for Halloween season!

Six months have gone by since having Willow, my body and hormones seem to have gone back to normal and unfortunately that means the ghastly and horrid return of the period! Dum! Dum! Dum! Can’t say I was particularly thrilled about that but at least it’s a sign that all is A-ok down there so I suppose I’ll forgive it. This also meant I got to re-subscribe to Pink Parcel! Yay! Receiving something like this once a month when your periods are just making you feel pooey, is just what you need to brighten your day. I highly recommend it! So, without further a do…

Look what goodies were in my Pink Parcel box this month! Other than the usual monthly “necessities”, I got:
❣Tea pigs sachet of Matcha Green Tea (which is lovely by the way! I’m drinking a cup as we speak!)

❣Emily Fruit Crisps, Crunchy Apple. These are actually quite nice. Very sweet tasting. £1.49
If you’re interested in subscribing to Pink Parcel each month (or maybe for your daughter? Which I think is a lovely idea), it’s £6.99 for the first box then £9.95 thereafter. Plus p&p.

Are any of you subscribed to Pink Parcel? Tell me what you think in the comments below. 😃
Take care,
Dayna.

One of the things I love about being a stay-at-home mum, rather than having your usual 9-5 day job, is that I can now concentrate on the things I’m passionate about and one of them is proofreading. A lot of people may think it’s boring but I love it! I love spotting mistakes and correcting them before they’ve made their way to the readers’ eyes! If you know of anyone who needs another pair of eyes to go over their work, feel free toleave a comment below or send them my way. I’d be more than happy to help! You can also email me: secretlivesoffictionlovers@gmail.com
Take care,
Dayna.

Hi everyone. The lovely people at Penguin recently sent me a copy of Blame by Simon Mayo. I’m so excited to read it! My boyfriend’s mum has also got a copy so, starting tonight, we have decided to do a read-along where we’ll read a chapter each night. This is actually a great way for me to read as with having little Willow now, I’ve been struggling to read as much as I used to, but setting aside half an hour or so to read a chapter is doable!

If you haven’t heard of Blame yet, here’s the blurb:

“Heritage crime [noun]: A previously undetected crime committed by your parents or grandparents for which you are held responsible.

Ant and her brother, Mattie, are locked up in Spike, a new family prison. Society demands they do time for the unpunished heritage crimes of their parents. Tension is simmering inside the jail. When the tension breaks and a riot begins, Ant realizes they’ve got one chance to break out.
It’s time for Ant to show the world that they’re NOT TO BLAME.”

Have any of you read Blame? If so, what did you think? Do any of you have it on your TBR list? Do you fancy reading along with us? Let me know in the comments below.

It’s not often that I will post about my personal life. At least not a post like this…
When I moved away to Pembrokeshire, leaving my cats (albeit with my parents as 5 of the 6 were the whole family’s cats) was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. In some ways, it was the hardest. I spent countless days crying and missing them. Particularly Felix as she was my little fur baby. I wanted to take her with me, but as grumpy as she was to the other cats, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to living with me on her own. It got even harder once Willow was born as I knew I couldn’t see them anywhere near as much as I had been but I was excited for the day when they’d finally meet her.
Yesterday I’d heard from my mum that Tessa was really poorly. Not just that, but Felix was also missing! Terra, our other cat, kept going out to look for her. In the early hours of this morning, cuddled up with my mum and dad on the sofa, Tessa sadly passed away from suspected poisoning.

Tessa lazing in the garden.

Felix still hasn’t come home and Terra is now also missing. We suspect they have both been poisoned, too.

Felix was always the crazy one.

Completely and utterly heartbroken over the news. Hurting so bad and I have cried so much my head hurts as well as my heart. I’m still holding onto a glimmer of hope that Felix and Terra will be found and that they’re OK but it doesn’t look good. 😭

Terra always dreamed big and saw himself as a panther in the making.

Such an incredibly sad day. I’m hating the world and hating the people who think it’s ok to poison cats and other pets. 😿 How can we have lost 3 beautiful cats in the space of 24 hours?! It’s just not fair!

Now Felix won’t be waiting in the garden when I come home from Wales for a visit. Looking at me all shocked when I call her name then happy purring and meowing when she realises it’s me. No longer will she laze on my bed, having some down time from the other cats, and no longer will I be able to have cuddles with our three fur babies.
Sorry for such a gloomy post. I just wanted to write about it and get all my feelings out. Completely devastated right now.

Beatrix Potter is one of my fave children’s authors. I love her stories but I think I love her illustrations even more. – They’re so beautiful. Tonight, when my little girl couldn’t sleep, I decided to read The Tale of Peter Rabbit to her for the first time. She’s now falling asleep. 💤

Even after all these years, I still enjoyed reading it and really felt for poor, naughty, Peter.

It gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling to be so lucky as to have my very own daughter that I can read books to and pass down my childhood favourites to. I really do hope she becomes a book lover just like me.
My apologies for such a short review tonight. Brain is getting sleepy so has given up for the night lol!

Woohoo the Summer has officially arrived! Happy belated Summer Solstice everyone! Living in Pembrokeshire now means I get to go to the beach a fair bit during the Summer as we have several near by. That is on the few occasions that we actually get to see a bit of sun lol! I’m not one for the hot weather, but I do love bright sunny days where the sky is a beautiful shade of blue with a few fluffy clouds floating by. The perfect opportunity to sit on the beach and do a spot of reading. This brings me to my post. I’ve decided to put together a few books that I’d like to read over the Summer. My Summer book stack! Now, whether I’ll be able to get through them all, I don’t know but I shall certainly try. The books I’ve chosen are:

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

Burn For Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Life and Death Twilight Reimagined by Stephenie Meyer

I’ve had some of these books for quite some time but hadn’t got around to reading them. Hopefully I’ll get through them all this Summer! I am particularly excited about reading Lady Midnight as I adore Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices. Have you read any of these? Do you have a Summer TBR list? What will you be reading? Let me know in the comments below! 😃
Oh, and if you don’t already know, we’re on Facebook! Stop on by and say hi!

This morning I’d noticed on Litsy that people were talking about an app called Serial Reader. Being a book lover, I thought I’d check it out!

I know it’s my first day of using it but so far I’m loving it! It’s an app for people who love to read the classics. Your book of choice is split up into manageable bite size pieces called issues (like a comic/graphic novel).

Each day, at a time of your choosing, an issue is sent to you and you’re also given an estimated reading time. – I thought it might also calculate your actual reading time but it doesn’t which is shame. In my opinion, it would be great if they could update it to do that. Once you’ve read an issue, you have the option of waiting until the next day or, if you’re the impatient type and the book is just too exciting to wait, you can read on ahead to the next issue. However, to do that, you have to upgrade which costs £2.99. This unlocks the option to read ahead, sync with iCloud, make highlights and notes, pause & read later, and add more fonts. I love the concept of this app and with the upgrade, it reminds me a lot of the Kindle app. I think maybe £2.99 for the upgrade is a little steep, though, and I’m not in the habit of paying for upgrades in apps anyway but that aside, the app is still definitely worth downloading and gets a thumbs up from me as I love the idea of looking forward to an issue to read each day.

Well, folks, it’s that time again where my proofreading door is open to you guys. Especially now that I have a little one and have a bit more free time on my hands (when she’s lets me, of course 😝). So, if you need a second pair of eyes to go over your work, feel free to contact me. I’d be happy to help in any way I can! You can email me at: secretlivesoffictionlovers@gmail.com.

A few weeks back the lovely Harriet at Penguin sent me a copy of the soon-to-be released And I Darken by Kiersten White. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to read it yet BUT this weekend will be THE weekend that I can finally get engrossed in it! I am so excited to be reading this book! Here’s the blurb:

AND I DARKEN by Kiersten White

Published 7th July 2016

“The phenomenal first book in an epic feminist trilogy set in the bloody Ottoman Empire, by the New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.

Perfect for fans of Game of Thrones and The Queen of the Tearling, this is the ultimate, gripping, ‘can’t-stop-reading!’ novel to get stuck into on your summer holiday. Anti-princess Lada Dracul is destined to be the next feminist heroine, following in the footsteps of recent strong, gritty female characters Arya Stark, Jessica Jones and Star Wars’ Rey.

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwyla likes it that way.
Ever since she and her brother were abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman sultan’s courts, Lada has known that ruthlessness is the key to survival. For the lineage that makes her and her brother special also makes them targets.
Lada hones her skills as a warrior as she nurtures plans to wreak revenge on the empire that holds her captive. Then she and Radu meet the sultan’s son, Mehmed, and everything changes. Now Mehmed unwittingly stands between Lada and Radu as they transform from siblings to rivals, and the ties of love and loyalty that bind them together are stretched to breaking point.”